A Roadmap to Redemption

I hope you had a fruitful summer and are ready for the renewed activities of fall! By God’s grace, the “slower” summer months gave me time to write a new evangelistic book on the Psalms, part of our Psalms of Hope outreach campaign this year. The Psalms open an incredible window into what it means to have a personal relationship with God, and Jewish people especially love them, feeling at home learning about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Psalms were also one of Jesus’s favorite portions of the Hebrew Scriptures. Some scholars believe He quoted or alluded to them as many as fifty times in the Gospels, even dying with a psalm on His lips (Psalm 22:1). We hope this new book gives you another wonderful tool for sharing the Gospel with your not-yet-believing friends.

We have also released Season 2 of I Found Shalom, our series of online video testimonies. They are incredible, so be sure to watch and share them with friends and family, especially your Jewish friends who do not yet know the Lord.

Your Mission to the Jewish People is bringing the good news to God’s chosen people with more commitment than ever! We now serve in twenty-one countries! We could not expand our reach into Jewish communities around the globe without your love, prayers, and support. We have entered our 132nd year of ministry as we began the Jewish New Year on the evening of Friday, September 11, 2026, which is the year 5787 by the traditional reckoning since creation.

Thank you for joining us in the great adventure of bringing the message of our beloved Messiah Jesus to His own people!

The Jewish High Holidays and Scripture

As we enter the Jewish High Holiday season, I want to share some thoughts on these major festivals—especially the New Year—and how they foreshadow the gospel and the principles of the spiritual life we cherish.

The Hebrew Scriptures offer a wealth of spiritual lessons for those of us who love the Lord and His Word. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Here Paul is referring specifically to the Old Testament: those thirty-nine inspired and inerrant books filled with lessons on living a holy and joyful life. The Fall Festivals found in Leviticus 23 provide us with a roadmap to redemption and teach us how to know and love God.

The Hebrew word we translate as “feast,” “festival,” or “holy day” is mo’ed, meaning “appointment.” These are appointments with God Himself. We must take them more seriously than any other appointment on our calendar. They shape the Jewish people’s worship, family gatherings, and personal piety all year long.

The Three Festivals

Three festivals arrive during autumn: the New Year, Rosh Hashanah (literally “Head of the Year,” though its biblical name is the Day of the Blowing of the Trumpets, Leviticus 23:23–25); the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur (Leviticus 23:26–32); and the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, Sukkot (Leviticus 23:33–44). Each carries its own distinguishing commandment, such as the trumpet blast, the blood on the mercy seat, and the building of booths. Yet all three share common elements: refraining from work, gathering for worship, and offering sacrifices.

These Holy Days engage the whole person—young and old, body and soul—through action, sight, sound, smell, and heart, giving Israel an experience of God’s presence and power, focusing them on His character and plan, and, in many cases, commemorating historical events, just as Passover commemorates the deliverance from Egypt.

The dates of these festivals never change on the Hebrew calendar; whatever man plans must bow to this holy calendar—much as the weekly Sabbath never moves, and traditional Jewish families still plan their week around it. Travel to Israel, and you will find the whole nation resting during those hours, with most stores and restaurants closed. Like the Sabbath, the High Holidays call the Jewish people to set aside ordinary activity and focus on the Lord and His plan for Israel.

The Jewish Holidays and the Believer in Jesus

I am not suggesting Christians must “keep” these festivals, but the lessons they teach are invaluable, helping us understand the rhythm of Jewish life and glean spiritual truths.

Even though my Jewish family observed these three fall festivals, they turned from black-and-white to vivid color once I came to know Jesus as my Messiah. I know I am free from the Law, yet I still celebrate these days as fulfilled in Jesus, growing each year in my love for the Lord and identifying more closely with the Savior, who was Himself Jewish and observed these Holy Days.

He fulfills each festival in the most beautiful way. I think of Him as the diamond of Scripture, with the holidays forming the setting that reveals His beauty. As He told His fellow Jewish disciples, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

The New Year: Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah’s importance grows from what follows it: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year. Rosh Hashanah is a day of repentance and turning back to God in preparation for the Day of Atonement—softening our hearts to receive the forgiveness it offers. Repentance is the first step of getting right with God, whether we are new believers or have walked with the Lord for decades.

The spiritual life begins with admitting our sin and our desire to turn from self-centered, evil ways back to the God who made us. Yet there is a major difference between traditional Judaism and followers of Jesus: Judaism does not teach that we inherit Adam’s sinful nature. It generally holds that mankind is born morally neutral, free to choose sin or obedience, and that forgiveness comes through sincere repentance, God’s mercy, and good deeds. This belief system is a real stumbling block in sharing the gospel with our Jewish friends and family, who do not readily accept that Scripture makes a strong case that we are sinners from birth, inheritors of Adam and Eve’s choice (Isaiah 53:6, 64:6; Jeremiah 17:9; Psalm 51:5). As Paul wrote, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), yet “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

We sin because we are sinners!

During this sober season, our staff preaches a clear message: we are helpless to earn forgiveness and must receive salvation as a faith-gift from our gracious God through the Messiah, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Spiritual life begins with this repentance, recognizing that apart from God we are left unfulfilled and burdened by guilt until we are forgiven and changed.

I was raised in a loosely religious, Orthodox-influenced Jewish home, believing forgiveness was possible for those who sincerely repented. However, I always felt I was failing, never sure I had repented enough. There is no real assurance of forgiveness in the Jewish faith. In fact, the more we grasp God’s holiness, the more we see the depth of our sin and our own inability to earn forgiveness. Sin is only made clear in the light of His holiness. Repentance is the door we walk through to find grace, but beyond it stands our High Priest and sacrifice, the Messiah Jesus, through whose atoning work we are forgiven and saved. That was true of my own path to salvation: coming to Jesus meant facing the shame of my sin. But once I grasped the magnitude of His forgiveness, my heart filled with joy and gratitude.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in Repentance

The Spirit’s role is critical to our spiritual growth. Without the light He shines on our hearts, we would walk blindly in sin. Jesus said, “If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:7–8). For the believer redeemed through the Messiah’s shed blood, ongoing repentance is the key to spiritual growth. As 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Greek word translated “confess,” homologeo, means to agree with God’s word, and we need the Spirit to reveal the sins we cannot easily see—especially those hidden beneath the surface.

In this, traditional Judaism has it right: the spiritual life begins with turning from sin to the Lord. Our decision to follow Jesus begins with repenting of the sins we know, yet our sinfulness is like an iceberg—we see only what is above the waterline, and we need God’s Spirit to reveal what lies beneath. True repentance means more than saying we are sorry; it means a genuine willingness to change how we relate to God, ourselves, and others, echoing the prophets’ cry to “turn and return” to God’s ways. As we grow in our knowledge of God, we grow in our understanding of our sin, and repentance becomes less a single act than a way of life. Thankfully, this never ends for believers: we simply respond to whatever the Spirit reveals, confess it, and, with His help, turn toward righteousness.

The Day of Atonement: Yom Kippur

Judaism, which does not have a strong sense of personal salvation, teaches that repentance leads us to forgiveness. Fasting and repentance make Rosh Hashanah a sacred time when we throw ourselves upon the mercy of God and mourn over our sin. Yet, as followers of the Messiah, we know there is nothing we can do to make ourselves right with God and that we need something only God can do to make us right with Him. All the repentance in the world cannot save us! 

So, what can spare us from the judgment of sin? The second Holy Day, (the Day of Atonement), which takes place ten days after Rosh Hashanah, reveals the answer. Clearly, the Bible teaches that we need more than repentance to be in right standing and relationship with God. We need something that only He can provide—that is, the shedding of His Son’s blood at the crucifixion. 

According to Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” This truth never gets old or becomes unnecessary. We have constant good standing in the presence of God, as Paul wrote in Romans chapter 5, because of the shed blood of Jesus. 

Much more than, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:9–11)

The focus of the Day of Atonement is found in Leviticus chapter 16, where the high priest, on that one day of the year, brings the blood of the bull and the goat and sprinkles it on the mercy seat, usually shrouded by a curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Beyond the curtain is the Ark of the Covenant. The top of that ark is the mercy seat. Jesus is the top of the ark, the place of propitiation—that is, the place of sacrifice that reconciles the people of God back to Him. It was that very place where the high priest sprinkled the atoning blood for the sins of the Jewish people that were not earlier expiated or forgiven through the sacrifice of a repentant Israelite:

Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed. (Romans 3:24–25, emphasis added)

This holy day, then, like the others, is a prophecy in type—a picture. The Day of Atonement is a prophetic portrait of redemption communicated by God to Moses and the prophets. The image undergoes further development in Isaiah chapter 53, where the prophet said that the Servant of the Lord would suffer for our sins. Jesus fulfilled this beautiful prophetic portrait when He died for our sins. But His shed blood is still necessary: “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

So often we limit the benefits of His death and resurrection to our salvation experience. Yet, Yom Kippur is a reminder that His death saves us daily! We never outlive the need for His atoning blood. Through His blood we are cleansed, day in and day out. It is the blood that brings life, forgiveness, and entry into the presence of God every moment of our lives. He keeps saving us through His sacrificial blood and His work as an interceding High Priest in heaven.

Feast of Tabernacles: Sukkot 

We have now identified two steps toward a living, intimate relationship with God. First through repentance and then via atonement. So, what then is the result of forgiveness? This roadmap to redemption does not end at atonement or salvation, but rather, it leads us further down the path to joy!

The third great fall festival is the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot, which is a festival of joy. The Jewish faith beautifully expresses this joy through the building of a tabernacle, or booth. In today’s synagogues, it is a tradition to walk around the synagogue seven times, shaking palm branches and a large, lemon-like citrus fruit called an etrog while shouting “Hosheanu, Hosheanu,” which means, “Lord save us, Lord save us.” This harks back to a ceremony in the Temple, during which people asked God to send the late-fall rain, because the Feast of Tabernacles was the last of the Jewish harvest season holidays, beginning the rainy season in Israel. 

In Joel 2:28–29, we read that God promised to send forth His Spirit in the last days, which is sometimes portrayed metaphorically as rain. This was also part of a major ceremony of Second Temple Judaism. On the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles, a ceremony called “the joy of the water-drawing” (simchat beit hashoavah) took place in the Temple. During this celebration, the Israelites would march down to the Pool of Siloam, fill urns with water, march back to the Temple with great pomp and circumstance, cry out to God, “Hosheanu!” and spill the water from the urns onto the corners of the altar. 

It was during the Feast of Tabernacles that Jesus stood up and declared Himself the living water that quenches our thirsty souls and turns our mourning to joy (John 7:37–39). I am sure if you have been walking with the Lord for any number of years, you recognize that the end result of repentance and our assurance of salvation is always joy. If we lack joy, we probably need to go back, repent, and then rejoice in what He has accomplished for us through the Messiah. We might ask, “When does this ever stop for the believer?” The answer is, of course, “Never!” Each and every day, we must ask the Lord to show us our sin so that we can repent and deepen our understanding of forgiveness through His sacrifice. 

That is key to finding the joy of our salvation. As David wrote so beautifully, “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16:11).

God uses the Jewish fall festivals found in Leviticus 23 to guide us toward a deeper relationship with Himself. All that is missing in the religious faith of the Jewish people is the centerpiece of salvation, which is the person of Jesus the Messiah. The fall festivals are a prophetic roadmap to redemption. The pathway that begins with repentance, leads to redemption, and results in rejoicing may be true of our lives as long as we cling to the centerpiece of salvation, who is Jesus Himself. He is the jewel shining brightly in the setting of the festivals. It is in Him and through Him that we have everlasting life and the forgiveness of sin once and for all—not simply when we made that eternal decision, but each and every moment of our lives!